Some might say that giving practically every professional player in the world an exact rating is an impossible task, but EA have developed a reputation for highlighting this difficulty. The innacurracy of their ratings has joined many FIFA players’ long list of excuses for losing, featuring alongside old favourites such as blaming the referee, blaming your players and blaming pretty much everything but yourself.
So how do EA come up with these most arbitary of numbers? Well, the overall rating is determined by a series of 28 sub-ratings split into 3 different categories: Mental (e.g. aggression), Physical (e.g. strength) and skill (e.g. ball control), and there is also a separate set of ratings that determine Goalkeepers’ ratings. This enigma like code has produced more clangers than Heurelho Gomes over the years and unfortunately FIFA 13 is no exception.
This article will focus on ten of the biggest ratings mistakes of this year’s game…
10. Michu,75
Michu’s last season was nothing short of sensational: he scored 15 goals for Rayo Vallecano, a comparatively small club who avoided relegation by the skin of its teeth. This placed him joint 9th in the Liga BBVA scoring charts, making him the top scoring midfielder in a highly competitive league that also includes the midfield talents of Xavi, Özil and Iniesta to name but a few. During the summer transfer window, the Spaniard was linked to the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, but Swansea picked him up for a bargain £2million. Incredibly, despite all of this, the powers that be at EA decided Michu was only worthy of a 75 rating.
Michu has since gone on to prove them wrong with 6 goals and an assist in 8 games for the Welsh club, making him the current joint top scorer in the Premier League.
We are currently seeking Gaming contributors on WhatCulture. To find out more about the perks of being a Gaming contributor, click here.









57 Comments
Kacaniklic’s rating is awfully low, standing in at 66. He deserves to be a gold with a 75+ rating, he is now often in Fulham’s starting eleven…
David Luiz for Chelsea is only a 79??? Yeah right, what a goal today
Not the best article for me, I think a lot are quite fair actually like Huntelaar and the likes of Joe Hart and Kompany are only 1 level off.
The thing is everyone is going to argue about wrong ratings (yes Walker should probably be an 80 but I don’t think he’s that much better if at all over Johnson, people just love to slate him).
There is one player that I am gobsmacked you missed out though, who FIFA overrates every year.
Seriously how is Arshavin an 81?
someone that is very underrated is Ogbonna from Torino. he is 79 non rare but he is an absolute freak. i have him in my ultimate team and he stops basically everything that comes into the defense and has an amazing pace. He really should have been an 80 rare. Also El Shaarawy is the highest goal scorer in the serie a and has scored more goals than any one in the bpl and he hasn’t even taken a penalty for the whole season. he is 76 overall and just turned 20 a month or so ago but really should be 80+ overall.
El Shaarawy started scoring this year so they couldn’t have predicted that, however outside of Ultimate Team they have upgraded him to 82 I think. A player I think has a low rating is John Guidetti, scoring 20 goals and 8 assists in 23 games for Feyenoord last year at the age of 19. Sure a lot of them came from penalty kicks but 74, I believe he deserves to be at least in the 77-79 range.
Agree with Kacaniklic,Arshavin is better than people think he is when played in his actual position as a no.10 instead of out on the wing which he is completely unsuited to.Good example is the at the Euros in 2012 and 2008 when he played there and absolutely dominated games or early Arsenal days before he was benched and shifted to the wing.
Arshavin 81? did you see him in the euros!? of course he’s 81! he just can’t be bothered at arsenal!
Huntelaar being 85 is about fair… comparing him to torres is kinda silly considering they got him right and i wouldn’t excessively rate huntelaar over torres
I would say Oxlade-Chamberlain should be number 1… i think he’s one of the top players in the prem! now that’s just my opinion, but i swear he’s 76 rated? should be like 82 in my opinion.
Why? Because he had a few good games last season? He has potential but he has not fulfilled it yet.
Papiss cisse only 81 and torres 85?? This is the biggest injustice also ronney is so overated
i think 79 for downing is too much. generaly, im satisfied with ratings in fifa 13, but pes… oh boy, dont get me started. on of the many reasons why i wont be playing pes no more, this year for sure
what about collocini only 81 overall he was one of te best CB last season he even made it into the team of the year, so how only 81 ea
Micah richards. Man city vice caprain, strong, fast (although under 80 for acceleration, laughable) great mental attitude, can score goals, a beast in the air. His rating is a.joke on fifa and the dact he doesnt get picked for england is the biggest joke to date
They should put in an “Atribute Customizer” so we can fix thesehorrible ratings right.
There is a customiser for offline play – edit player.
I think Rooney is too overrated and Cech is underrated (so is Hart). That’s why I edit them!
Kagawa’s rating is ridiculous the guy scored 17 goals in all comps and gets a 74 finishing his passing is bad 83 short pass and his vision is below 80 for a guy who got over 10 assists last year serioulsy ea i dont understand how gotze has a higher rating yet kagawa was crucial to dortmunds domestic double and gotze missed most of the season through injury.
Might not be a well-known player, but Enock Adu’s under-60 rating might just be THE biggest joke rating in this game. For those who don’t know who he is, he plays for FC Nordsjælland, and was instrumental in winning the first league title in the club’s history. He’s widely regarded as one of the best midfielders in the league. Should be low 70′s.
Jores Okore should be 72-75. He’s the number 1 Danish defender from generation 92 – that should show in his rating. He’s ahead of Frederik Sørensen and Jannik Vestergaard in real.
FC Nordsjælland are generally underrated. They’re the Danish champions. so they should be rated as one of the best teams as well.
Mads Albæk is the guy in charge on the midfield of FC Midtjylland. The team has been bad this season, but he’s one of the best players on that team.
All England players are overrated/overpayed. FACT.
Its “Overpaid”. FACT.
allen 79 and djorou 75 these are jokes . djrou should deserves at least 81 and allen deserves at least 84.what you thinking ea????????
Gerrard – should be 64
Suarez -should be 61
Downing – should be 99
Allen – should be 58
Sahin – should be 56
Reina -should be 54
Johnson and Enrique – should be 53
Skirtel and agger – should be 53
Borini – should be 99
HAHA HATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I do know how the rating system works, hence my description of it in the second paragraph. Speed and agility are important for defenders and we all know exaples of those with poor pace e.g. John Terry or Per Mertesacker.
Skrtel $ Agger – 86+
Gerrard – 86+
Suarez – 86+ or 90+
Allen – 80+
Sahin – 80+
Borini – 75+
Sterling – 70+
Johnson – 86+
Enrique and Kelly – 75+
Raheem Sterling, Who’s 17 and keeping Stewart downing out of the team and playing better than any Liverpool player (with the exception of the genius himself in Luis Suarez) only rated 70, When Downing is 79? how does that work?
WHAT ABOUT EL SHAARAWY ONLY 72 WTF !!
When there are several thousands of players in the game I imagine having a few wrong is acceptable but less so for big players like Hart and Kompany etc who play in popular leagues. However I do think they should update some players (no special versions/cards just update the player) after reviewing from say a FIFA 13 community from every country who devise a top 10 list to be investigated.
I think all football games seem to favour Man Utd too much even though they were not champions. In comparison with other players,
Vidic cannot be higher than Puyol or Piqué, he wasn’t even the best defender in the league, Kompany was. His rating should be lower than 85, not 89.
Ferdinand did not perform to expectations this season, and putting him on par with players like Agger is laughable. He should be around 75.
Wow, Nani’s 85! A player who fell out of favour and hasn’t been playing regularly. Mirallas 78 is playing far better. So Nani should be a 76 or 77.
Giggs and Scholes are hardly the kind of players that, while overrated, won the leagues in the past.
I think all football games seem to favour Man Utd too much even though they were not champions. In comparison with other players,
Vidic cannot be higher than Puyol or Piqué, he wasn’t even the best defender in the league, Kompany was. His rating should be lower than 85, not 89.
Ferdinand did not perform to expectations this season, and putting him on par with players like Agger is laughable. He should be around 75.
Wow, Nani’s 85! A player who fell out of favour and hasn’t been playing regularly. Mirallas 78 is playing far better. So Nani should be a 76 or 77.
Giggs and Scholes are hardly the kind of players that, while overrated, won the leagues in the past. I think it’s because players like Fletcher and Carrick who are rated too highly, that’s why their ratings are at 81. All four players cannot compare with players like Fellaini or Lallana. Their ratings should be Giggs 72 Scholes 74 Fletcher 71 Carrick 71.
Lastly the best striker in the league is Suarez and the best poacher in the league is van Persie, then how is Rooney deserving of a 89? It seems EA is giving face to an overrated player based on his reputation.
So the half the team (who are 20 points clear of the scousers) deserve ratings between 70-75? Deluded scouse bin dipper. Justice for the 39.
El sharaawy definately deserves higher than his 75 or whatever his rating is. He should be atleast near the mid 80s or even more
is fifa going to make a player rating update in january like last fifa?
The most overrated player on FIFA 13 must be David Beckham at 79, I mean really?? that ranks him higher than a lot of current England internationals on which level he has not been for years
What about Leighton Baines? He is definitely underrated! He is only 80, while almost every player in the BPL thinks he is the best lb! Ashley Cole is rated 84, that’s just ridiculous.
why on earth did ea make vidic 89????? seriously he should be around 85 now
Why are the players of Ajax so underrated?? They’ve been champions of Holland for 2 years straight and have beaten Manchester United and Manchester City in 2012. I’m not saying Ajax is the top of Europe, but now the players are in the same class as a bottom BPL club.
vidic is still quality. he was just injured last year. he should be around 86-87.
Kompany’s ratings about right. People don’t realize the ammount of mistakes he truly makes.. Vidic is definitely overrated I don’t understand how ea could possibly think he’s still the best defender in the world when no ones really seen him play in the last year or so. One of the most underrated players I’d have to say is Schurrle, 79 rating is ridiculous at best equalling the rating of Downing ea certainly blew that one. Huntelaar should be lower if anything, a player who is solely good in the box and useless anywhere else on the field does not merit a high rating.
the most overated player is rooney. 89 really? Aguero should be higher then 87. he got number 1 player of man city by fans and plays half the amount of time rooney does. Come on EA!
Players That Should Have Higher Ratings:
Giorgios Samaras
Diego Milito
Gianluigi Buffon
Andrea Pirlo
Alessandro Matri
Carles Puyol
Hulk
Glen Johnson
Oscar
El Sharaawy
Dani Alves
Jerome Boateng
Bacary Sagna
David de Gea
Mesut Ozil
What people seem to forget is that it doesn’t really matter wether your an 84 or and 86. Defenders are rated a little lower in the game but it’s still relative amongst defenders, and if you’re an 80+ player it means you’re good and if you’re an 84+ player it means your a superstar (not applied to all defenders since their ratings are lower). Now these numbers are not very accurate I’m just stating an example. The game is balanced in the way that you could put a striker with a 75 rating and good base stats and he’ll still do as good of a job as some 85 rated strikers.
Imo a lot of the BPL players ratings are a little too high compared to other leagues. I’m talking in general they have a lot of high rated players – 80+. In reality the BPL didn’t stand very well last year in the Champions League against the other leagues teams, with the exception of Chelsea.
Ainsworth should be 99…fact
I agree James.
This is a poor article. how on earth should kompany be more than 85!!!
what about baines he is class and only a 80.
Giroud only 80? Seriously?!? He was the top scorer in the French league which is a very competitive league…. 14 goals and 11 assists so far in the Premier league where goal-scoring is difficult… This is real injustice..
Yeah he should be around 83
most on Barcelona/Real is overrated, as they just feed off each other. Individually (anyone not on spain), they really don’t shine outside of the amazing system the teams run in Spain.
Hell, Torres looked okay in the Euro’s when he was placed in that system.
But to be fair, we put way to much into the overall number. You gotta analyze the individuals to get a good flowing team (give me an 80 overall that’s fast, 75 CB that’s deadly in the box, etc)
the rating system is not directly based on their performance from the previous season its based on their skill attributes, just because someone like jelavic scored more than torres doesnt mean he can curve a ball more than torres, or head a ball better or have more skill, or take better free kicks or have more agression, overall someone like torres will have higher skill attributes like curve, long shots, positioning, blah blah, its just an average of all the skill attributes, people say rooney is overpowered because hes 89 if he had a finishing attribute of 80 but the rest high then he obviously wouldnt be one of the best strikers on the game even though he would be rated at 89. fifa cant take into account how a player will perform they can only give them their skill attributs, its not perfect and some deserve better but its a game, just play it
BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES BAINES
BAINES SHOULD BE 90.
And Downing is actually pretty good on the ball. Just lacks the end product.
A lot of Manure players are overated. Look at Nani,Ferdinand,Vidic is def not the best defender in the world, Rooney is way over rated. Suarez and Bale are under rated as well as Kompany and Baines. EA seems to favour Man U, Barca and RM. Ferdinand should have about 65. P.s Downing is playing well this season, 4goals and 6 assists and his rating is around 77 now which he fully deserves if not more.
Look at downing now biiiiitchhes. Writer of this article is a clown.
Vidic is about right, why should his rating go down just cos he missed most of last season through injury, when he plays he’s a tank, there’s not many like him out there.
For me the under rated players in the prem are Michael Carrick, David De Gea, Shinji Kagawa, Rafael, Jonny Evans, Lewis Holtby, Vincent Kompany, Leighton Baines, Maroune Fellaini, Michu, Theo Walcott, Nikica Jelavic and Phil Jones
Baines: 83
De gea: 84
affelay is so, so underated! If you are after a pacy left with winger with great skill and a booming shot then affelay is the one! at 81 overall i thing he is totally underated and he should be worth more aswell! try him out guys!
Bony is a 78 when he scores 30 goals in 30 games he should be 81-83
Luke shaw Southampton bronze 64 Pacey maybe low gold 76??
An none of you mentions Alabas 77 rating? 19years and quite likely one of the best modern left backs!